Pikeville,Ky. A state employee has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that she was passed over for a promotion for political reasons. Almeda Wireman,age 46,of Jackson filed the suit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Pikeville against Gov. Ernie Flecther and the state Transportation Cabinet. The suit claims Flecther and others were involved in a political package deal that deprived her of a promotion in 2004. Wireman did not learn until last month the "true reason" she was not promoted to highway district administrative manager in news accounts of a tape-recorded conversation released during the attorney general's investigation into state hiring practices.A phone call between the former transportation personnel director Douglas Doerting and ex-district engineer Sam Beverage "clearly implicates Gov. Flecther in setting up the package deal to give the job to Billy Montgomery,who lacked a requisite college degree," stated wireman's attorney,Ned Pillersdorf. The suit alleges such deals violated the state's merit-system laws and the civil rights of Wireman,a right-of-way purchasing agent. Flecther spokesman Brett Hall said Wendnesday that the hiring dicision "was absolutely not based on politics." "If she had been the superior candidate,she would have been hired," Hall said.(Information from Lexington Herald Leader)Within reason: GOP woes in Kentucky